Station made famous by Harry Potter gets makeover

The new concourse is unveiled at King's Cross train station in London, Wednesday, March 14, 2012. The new King's Cross station concourse, will be a new major London landmark which is expected to serve some 45 million passengers a year.(AP Photo/Brynjar Gauti)

Associated Press

LONDON — Harry Potter fans should now find it a bit easier to find platform 9 3/4.

King's Cross Station, the London train terminal made famous by J.K. Rowling's series on the boy wizard, has undergone a 550 million pound ($875 million) makeover.

The station is the setting of the fictional platform 9 3/4, where Potter and his friends went through a wall to find the train to Hogwarts, their school.

But the 45 million real-life commuters who struggle through the cluttered station every year often found the experience something short of magical.

On Monday a spectacular new glass-and-steel entrance opened to the public in a bid to cut the crowding.

As part of the station's renovation, there is now a photo-op version of platform 9 3/4 — right next to platform 9.